Transferring apparatus.



No. 812,638: 7 PATENTED FEB. 13, 1906..

. M. GATHEY.

TRANSFERRING APPARATUS.-

uruonmn rn-nn 11120.12, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W'fiwwea K in ng W s I WW5??? .5 jfship or other object, or when the carriage is used for conveying a ship it may be provldedf No. 812,638.

ATENT FFIGE.

'. ALBERT M. OATHEY, or nAvmsoN,- NORTH CAROLINA.

TBANSFERRING APPARATUS.

Tdall whom it may concern} 7 Be it known that I, ALBERT M. OATHEY, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Davidson, in the county of Mecklenburg and State [of North Carolina, have invented new and useful Improvements in Transferring App'a' ratus, of which the following is a specificaand rol tion.

V This invention relates to a transferring apparatus capable of moving bodies from one place to another. 7

The apparatus may or truck by reason of w 'ch there are no jourbe subjected :to strains.

nals, such as would be presented by axles, to The carria, e and rollers may be of any desirable kind. or the rollers I may advantageously employ balls or spheres. The carriage or truck may carry a cradle or other frame to directly sustain a with a tank to receive such ship. These matters of detail, however, may be varied to meet the particular requirement to which the ap aratus is put.

a art of the apparatus I employ mechanism-' or. transferring the rollersfrom one point to ano ther.. In the present case the rollers are transferred from the rear end to the front endof the apparatus 'or for what is for the time being these portions.

a part of this specification I show an ef-' As will hereinafter be explained, the app'a- -..ratus is ca able of moving in opposite directions, and effect positive movement of the rollers during bothof such movements.

In the drawings accompanying and formfective embodiment of ap aratusincluding my invention, which to ena le those skilled in the art to practice said inventionI will set forth in detail in the following descri tion,

while the novelty ofsaid invention will e included in the claims succeeding said descrip-' tion.

' In said drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of-a transferring apparatus embodying theinvention. Fi 2 is a top plan view 0 said apparatus. F ig.3 is a transverse sectional view of the apparatus, showing a slight modification thereof. Fig. 4 is a Specification of Letters Patent.

Applicaltibn filed December 12,1905. Serial No: 291,487.

be used with advan tage in various connections, it being of particular utility for transferring large or bulky latented Feb. 13, 1906.

like parts throughsectional detail upon a scale slightly'larger.

successfully employed in many difierent ways for transferring objects of different kinds. It is of especial-use, however, in moving large objects, such 'as a ship. In this particular use the apparatus can be used for moving a ship across a neckof land from a body of wa ter on one side thereofto a body of water on the opposite side thereof. 4

The apparatus includes in its make-up a carriage or truck, and the same may be of any desirable character. I have shown in Figs. 1

to 3, inclusive, of the drawings a carriage or truck 2, and it may be of wood, steel, or composite construction, this depending upon the character, size, or

weight of the body to be moved.

I deem it unnecessary to go into a detailed construction of'the body of the truck or carriage, for this does not concern the Invention.

The carriage or truck may be provided with a cradle, denoted in a general way by 3 in Fig. 1 and in which a boat, ship, orvessel, as 4, may lie, both the cradle and ship or boatgbeing shown by dotted lines in said figure.

J Instead of a cradle the truck may carry a tank, as 5, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3,

.and\ into which a boat or ship may be floated. It will be understood, therefore, that the means .for carrying the object, such as a vessel, upon the carriage or truck may be of various kinds.

, In connection with the apparatus I prefer to employ a track in order to properly'guide the same, and the track may be of any desirable form. The one shown consists of parallel rails, as 6. As previously indicated, the carriage is supported by rollers, and these may be of'any suitable-form, the ones shown being designated by 7 and being of spherical or ball shape. To prevent lateral motion of the rollers, I prefer to groove the rails 6 on their upper sides and to correspondingly groove the under sides of the strin ers 8, ex tending longitudinally of, fastene to, and

forming part of the carriage or truck 2'.

There are two series of rollers in the present case, as will be understood, and each series travels in a groove in'a rail 6 and stringer 8, rospecti\;glly. B forming grooves 1n these parts it 1 not be possible for the rollers to IIO bodily move transverselyof the a paratus are wholly free of the carriage, so that there are no journals present to be subjected to stress or wear.

When the rollers 7 reach or'substantially' reach the rear portion of the carriage or truck and pass out of contact with the stringers 8,

I provide means for elevating the same and then moving them in the direction of travel of the carria e. When the carriage is traveling toward t e right in Fig. 1, the rollers are moved toward the right after they have been lifted above the track or runway upon whichthe rollers revolve.

I will now describe the mechanism illustrated for accomplishing the elevation and then the movement of the rolls. Said mech-,

anism involves a tilting member composed in-the present case of two oscillatory members or levers 9 ofduplicate construction fulcrumed substantially centrally between their ends for rocking motion upon the-carriage or truck 2, as seen best in Figs. 1 and 2. These oscillatory members. 9 are channeled or grooved to properly guide the rollers when moving from one end thereof to the other. The oscillatory members 9 are shown in Fi 1 as occupying an inclined relation and suc a'one as to permit the travel of the rollers from the left toward the right in said figure. The relation, however, may be reversed, so as to ermit the balls or rollers to travel from the right toward the left. To maintain the oscillatory members in fixed relation, removable pins, as 10, may be employed, said pins being shown in their working positions in Fig. 1.

' oscillatorymembersQ, as will be obvious, can

At opposite sides of the carriage or truck and near the opposite ends thereof are arranged ooved members 11, represented as vertical y disposed, and the lower edges of which are separated from the rails 6 a distance substantially equal to the diameter of the rollers. These grooved members 11, as will be understood, are arranged in pairs and are located directly over the respective rails 6. 'Each of them has an inwardly-extending" overhanging ooved head 12, arrangedat an inclination w ereby the heads 12 at one end of the a paratus can register with the adjacent en of the oscillatory members 9 when the latter are in roller-transferring osition; as shown clearly in Fig. 1. The en s of the be brought into register with the grooved heads 12 on the right of the ap' aratus when it becomes necessary to trans er therollers from the right toward the left. In either, case the rollers are transferred from the rear portion of the apparatus toward the front E 11 a distance ap plcirtions depending portion thereof, these" oh the apparatus upon the direction in W may be moving.

At 0 posite ends of the ap aratus or substantially thereat I provide e evatin means for the rollers, and the same may be 0 any desirable character. The means shownfor this posite each of the grooved members 11 is a be t 13 of endless form. The lower ends of the belts are arranged in roximity to the rails 6 and are assed around 14, carried b angers plendent from the carriage or true 2 and in orizontal alinement. The n per portions of the belts are passed aroun pulleys, as 15 ,upon shafts, as 1.6,suitably supported uponsaid carriage andlocated upon the deck thereof. The belts are sepaguide-rollers', as

purpose,howeve1;,will now be set forth. Arranged 0 rated from the cooperating grooved members roximately equal to the diameter of the ro lers. The shafts 16 are located above the deck 'of the carriage 2 and they may be driven in any desirable way-for exam 1e, by means of motors, as 17, belted or ot erwise operatively connected thereto. 1 have shown the motors 17 simply conventionally. They may be of any type.

As. the carriage moves from the right toward the left the rollers 7 are brou ht successivelyaga'inst the lower ends of -t e belts 13 at therearof the apparatus, and said belts movingl-in'the direction of the arrow serve to elevate the'rollers upward along the cooperating grooved members 11 until they reach the inclined heads of said grooved members."

When the heads 12 are reached, the, rollers enter the same and then travel u on the the right become effective for lifting the rollers. 1 i i There is a space shown in Fig. 1 between the right ends of the stringers 8- and the grooved members 11 on the right. When traveling toward the right, these spaces are open, but the corresponding spaces on the left are closed, for which puriplose fillingieces, as 18, are illustrated, said eing held in place by fastening devices, denoted in a figleneral way each by 19. (See Fig. ling-pieces 1 9 are shown in operative positions on the left of the apparatus in Fig. 1, as the a paratus is sigprplosed to be traveling towar the right; en the apparatus 1s traveling toward the left insaid figure, the filling-pieces will be removed and insorted in the spaces between the right ends of the stringers 8 and the grooved members 1 1 onthe right. It will be sup osed that the apparatus is travelingtowar the right in paratus I ro ling-pieces riage has passed from off the sameand for re- 1 turnlng the rollers to a point in front of the said Fig. 1. The filling-pieces 18 prevent the rollers from jumping up into the space be tween the stringers and the grooved members during such motion. Their under faces, however, are sli htly above the correspondin surfaces of the two stringers, so that the fil ing-pieces do not interpose any resistance to the relative motion of the carriage and rollers.

What I claim is 1. In an apparatus of the class described, a carriage, rollers forsupporting the carriage and free thereof combined with mechanism for transferring rollers from one point to another.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, a carriage, rollers for supporting the carriage and free thereof combined with mechanism for transferring the rollers from one end of the carriage to the other end thereof.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, a runway, rollers on the runway, aoarriage supported by and free of the rollers, and mechanism for transferring the rollers from one point on the runway to another point.

4. In an apparatus of the class described, a carriage, rollers for su porting the carriage and free thereof, paral e1 grooved rails to receive the rollers, and mechanism for lifting the rollers fromoff the rails when the car'- carria e. I

5. 11 an apparatus of the class described, a carriagefirollers for supporting'and free of the carriage, and mechanism for elevating the rollers when the carriage has-passed from off the same and returning the rollers to a point in front of the carriage.

, 6. In an apparatus of the class described, a

carriage having parallel grooved stringers,

for returning said rollers to a point in front of the carriage.

7. In an apparatus of the class described, a carriage, rollers for supporting the carriage and free thereof, means for lifting the rollers when the carriage has .passed from off the same, and an inclined way onto which the rollers are delivered by the elevating means,

for conducting said rollers to the front of the carria e. 1

carriage, elevating means at the opposite ends of the carriage for lifting the rollers from their normal level, members along which the rollers travel when under the action of the elevating means, and a tiltable member adapted to assume opposite inclinations and towoperate alternatelywith said members,whereby rollers'received from the latter can gravitate therealong. v y

In testimony whereof I have hereunto's'et my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses. l

ALBERT M, OATHEY.

Witnessesz HEATH SUTHERLAND, BERNARD P. VAsHoN. T

11 an apparatus of the class described, a carriage, rollers for supporting and free of the 

